Kode Kombat
by MntT77
Summary: Odd's addiction to the classic video game Mortal Kombat 2 ends up alienating him from the rest of the group. But when XANA launches his next attack, perhaps Odd's newfound interest will come in handy after all...
1. Chapter 1

Dinner had just ended at Kadic Academy, and Aelita, Jeremie and Ulrich were walking down the hallway towards their rooms.

"It's strange that Odd missed dinner today", Aelita said. "That's not like him"

Ulrich shrugged. "Maybe he decided to stop being such a slacker all the time and skipped dinner so that he could study"

There was a brief pause, followed by all three of them laughing. By this point, they had arrived in front of Jeremie's room. However, as Jeremie was about to open the door, he paused.

"That's weird"

"What is it?" Ulrich asked.

"This door isn't locked. I could've sworn I locked it before I left"

"Relax Jeremie, anyone can forget something like that" Aelita said.

"Yeah, you're right" Jeremie began to open the door. "I'm probably just worrying over noth- OH NO!"

"What's wrong?!" Ulrich's question was quickly answered as he ran into the room. Jeremie's computer and monitors were no longer there.

"Someone stole my computer! I can't believe it! I have so much vital data relating to the supercomputer and XANA on there!"

"But how did it happen?" Aelita asked. "Do you think XANA could be behind this?"

"I don't know, but this is a major issue – we'd better warn Odd and Yumi about it ASAP. I'll call Yumi now, and Ulrich, you go and tell Odd"

"Alright" Ulrich dashed towards his room, and tried opening the door, only to find that it was locked. He reached into his pockets and realised that he had forgotten his key. He banged on the door.

"Odd, let me in!" There was no response, though Ulrich could hear muted sounds blaring from inside the room. "This isn't a joke, Odd! Something really serious has happened!" There was still no response.

"Damn it Odd, if you don't open this door right this second I'm gonna tell Mr. Delmas that you keep a dog in your room!"

The door opened straight away. "Alright, alright", Odd said. "You don't need to resort to threats, sheesh"

"Odd, this is my room just as much as it is yours, and –" Ulrich stopped when he saw what was inside their room. "Odd, PLEASE tell me that isn't what I think it is…"

On the desk behind Odd was Jeremie's computer, which was running Mortal Kombat 2.

"Well, I could tell you that, but then I guess I'd be lying" Odd giggled and grinned sheepishly.

"You stole Jeremie's computer so that you could play a dumb video game?!" Ulrich was livid.

"First of all, this is not some 'dumb video game' – this is Mortal Kombat, one of the greatest fighting games of all time. Secondly, I never STOLE his computer, I just borrowed it… without asking"

"That's stealing"

"No it isn't. Seriously, Ulrich, don't get so stressed out"

"Odd, that computer is not a toy – Jeremie needs it so that we can fight against XANA! Didn't you ever stop to think about how he'd react when he realised it was gone?!" Ulrich shouted. "You have to be one of the most selfish, thoughtless and irresponsible guys that I've ever met!"

Ulrich's shouting had alerted Jeremie and Aelita, and soon enough they had rushed to join him.

"What's all the commotion ab-" Jeremie paused mid-sentence, seeing his computer through the doorway. For a few moments he simply stood there in stunned silence, but eventually he found himself able to speak again, but only in a flat monotone. "Odd, this is quite possibly the most disgusting betrayal of trust I have ever experienced in my life, and trust me, that really is saying something"

"Woah Einstein, take a chill pill, I was just borrowing it!"

"What did you even want the computer for anyway?" Aelita asked.

"He's playing that dumb fighting game from the 90s" Ulrich responded "Lethal Battle or whatever else it's called"

"IT'S MORTAL KOMBAT!"

"Whatever", Ulrich said. "The point is that you were grossly irresponsible and put our fight against XANA in jeopardy for the sake of a video game"

"This isn't just ANY video game", Odd said defensively. "Mortal Kombat revolutionised fighting games as we know them today – tell them Einstein"

"Well", Jeremie said, his regular tone of voice having returned, "Odd does have a point, in that Mortal Kombat introduced many new gaming mechanics that had been previously underdeveloped or even completely unheard of, and furthermore the digitized sprites and excessive gore, whilst primitive by modern standards, were also revolutionary for their time. That said, the game also has many huge flaws in its core gameplay that render it hopelessly outdated in this day and age" Aelita and Ulrich stared at Jeremie, their mouths agape.

Odd, however, was sulking. "Hmph, primitive, so disrespectful"

Jeremie blushed. "Sorry. I happen to be something of a fighting game enthusiast in my spare time… now, where was I?"

"You were upset with Odd for stealing your computer", Aelita pointed out, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"Quite right. Odd, this is the final straw! Your careless and self-centred attitude have gotten in our way several times in the past, but this really is the last straw. Until further notice, you're out of our group!"

"What?!"

"You heard me!" Jeremie had all of a sudden become enraged. "You're not to talk to us or fight against XANA with us until I say you can!"

"Uh, since when were you the only one that got a say?" Odd responded sarcastically. "We should at least let the other three vote on this issue too"

"I agree" Ulrich said.

"So do I" added Aelita.

Odd deflated. "Oh…"

Jeremie suddenly received a call on his mobile. "Hello?"

"Hi, it's me, Yumi! I'm almost at Kadic now!"

"Don't worry Yumi, we found the computer after all. Odd took it to play Mortal Kombat!"

"Are you kidding me?! That kid is such a selfish jerk sometimes! I swear, the day he thinks about someone other than himself is the day that the world stops spinning!"

Yumi's words leaked out of the phone, and Odd was able to hear every syllable of it. He was dumbstruck, unable to say a single word.

"I don't know about you, but I'd say that's pretty unanimous", Ulrich said. Odd was still staring into space, scarcely moving.

"Now if you don't mind", Jeremie said, "I'll be taking MY computer back" Jeremie went over to the electrical socket and unplugged it.

"Hey!" Odd was suddenly snapped out of his trance. "I was just about to get my biggest online win streak yet!"

Aelita was incredulous. "Odd, do you even listen to yourself when you speak?! How can you be so thoughtless?"

"HEY, WHAT'S ALL THAT RACKET?!"

"Oh no", Ulrich said. "It's Jim – what are we going to do?"

"Don't worry, I have a plan. Aelita, you go back to your room – quickly. I'll stay here for a little while"

Aelita dashed back to her room. A few seconds later, Jim arrived.

"What do you think you're doing causing this much ruckus, huh? Answer me!"

"I was, er, just lending Odd my computer, sir", Jeremie said. "He needed it for a really important assignment" Ulrich glared at Odd.

"So why couldn't he have just come to your room and used it there, rather than you having to lug all your computer stuff over?"

Jeremie smacked his face with his palm and feigned a look of surprise. "Oh, I'm such a doofus sometimes – I never even thought of that"

Jim glared at Jeremie suspiciously. "That's not like you, Jeremie… oh well, I'll let you off with a warning this time. But keep the noise down. Got it?"

"Yes sir" Jeremie, Ulrich and Odd said simultaneously.

Jim turned around and left.

"Thanks for covering my back, Jeremie" Odd said sheepishly.

"Odd, just… don't. Don't speak to any of us" Jeremie grabbed one of his monitors, while Ulrich grabbed the computer, and they both left the room. After a few seconds, Odd, shaking, ran out of the room as well. But he kept on running - out of the corridor, out of Kadic Academy and out across the streets. He didn't know where to go next, but he knew where he wasn't wanted anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

Jeremie and Ulrich returned to grab the last remaining items of the computer.

"Hey, where did Odd go?" Ulrich asked.

"Who cares, let's just grab the rest of my stuff and be done with it"

"But don't you think it's a little… strange that he just left like this? I think we might have upset him a lot worse than we thought"

"Ulrich, Odd DESERVES to be upset! He stole my computer! Even by his standards, that's pretty hard to forgive"

Ulrich sighed. "Yeah, you're right. He'll probably be back really soon. But this level of anger – it's just not like you Jeremie!"

"I'm just sick of people like Odd thinking it's OK to take advantage of me all the time without ever giving anything back. Never mind the fact that the research I'm doing will determine the fate of the world as we know it – oh no, if Odd wants to play his precious Mortal Kombat, then that HAS to take priority" Jeremie grunted. "And THEN I have to deal with people like you defending him!"

Ulrich scratched the back of his head and looked to the side nervously.

"I'm going to go and see Aelita for a bit, to try and calm myself down. You coming?"

"No thanks Jeremie, I think I'll wait here, in case Odd shows up, you know?"

Jeremie shrugged. "Suit yourself"

Odd had been wandering around the streets outside Kadic Academy for what had felt like hours. In his rush to get away, he had forgotten to take his phone with him, and with only a few euros in his pocket, he couldn't afford to do much. The first thing he did after leaving the school grounds was to go into a corner store and buy himself a candy bar. He wolfed it down straight away, hoping to quench the feeling of emptiness inside of him. He was dismayed to find that it hadn't worked.

Soon enough, he found himself sitting aimlessly on a park bench with half a dozen candy bar wrappers surrounding him.

"I don't get it", Odd muttered to himself. "They've never been this upset with me before. They always let these things slide – I don't get what's so different this time…"

Suddenly, Odd remembered that Yumi, despite her vocal condemnation of his behaviour, had never outright rejected him like the others had.

"I wonder if her parents might let me stay for the night" he thought to himself. "Surely they can't hold a grudge against me for long"

He got up from the bench, and ran towards Yumi's house.

Yumi was relaxing in the living room with her family. Her mother was reading a book on the sofa, while she and her dad were playing a game of Go. Hiroki was perusing a metal fan that was mounted on the wall.

"Hey Yumi", Hiroki asked, "I've always wondered – why do we have that weird fan up there?"

Yumi smiled to herself – explaining Japanese culture was one of her biggest interests. "That's called a tessen fan, Hiroki. It was often used by samurai as weapons in situations where they couldn't use swords. We keep it as a symbol of our ancestry"

"But what could they possibly do with a stupid fan?"

"It's not just about the weapon, Hiroki – it's about the person who uses it" Just as she was about to place her next piece on the board, she heard the doorbell ring.

"That's strange", Yumi's mother said. "Who would call on us at this time of night?"

Yumi rose. "Don't worry mom, I'll get it"

Yumi crossed the living room, and opened the front door. Her expression soured when she saw Odd standing in front of her, shivering and hunched up.

"Odd, what are you doing here?" Yumi asked, gazing down at him.

"I… I was wondering if your parents might let me stay over tonight"

"Get real! My parents would never agree to let a boy stay here in a million years. And besides –"

"Yumi, who is it?" her mother called.

"Er… it's just a door-to-door salesman, mom. I'm sending him on his way now"

"A salesman? At this time of night?"

"Don't worry mom, it's fine. Really" Yumi stepped outside and closed the door behind her, knowing that her mom wouldn't be able to hear her.

"Odd, you've got a lot of nerve to come running to me after what you did"

"Oh come on, all I did was use Jeremie's computer for a bit of fun – it's not like anything bad came of it"

"That's not the point! Did you ever stop to think about what we'd do if you'd damaged the set-up? Jeremie spends hours on there every day trying to fight XANA, and you took it from him for your own selfish pursuits"

"But I've done this sort of thing before, and no one cared then"

"Yes, you have – many times. And that's the problem. You never stop to think about the consequences of your actions, and we keep letting you get away with it. Well not anymore. You need to be taught the hard way that this sort of behaviour isn't acceptable"

"Look, if there's something I could do to fix the situation, I'd do it!"

"Well, how about apologising?" Odd's expression turned to one of shock. He looked down at shoes and shuffled slightly.

Yumi frowned. "You'd never even considered that, had you?"

"Er… sorry?" Odd said sheepishly. The word 'sorry' was said so quietly that it bordered on inaudible.

There was a couple of seconds of silence. "Odd, that was pathetic. And frankly, if you're going to apologise to anyone, you should really be apologising Jeremie"

"Yumi, where are you?!" Her mother's voice shot through the air.

Yumi opened the front door. "Go and apologise – PROPERLY – to Jeremie, and then maybe you can start to make things better"

Then she slammed the door in Odd's face. Odd sighed, and dejectedly walked back towards Kadic.

Meanwhile, at the factory, the monitor of the supercomputer lit up. The symbol of XANA appeared, and multiple programs began running in quick succession.


End file.
